Former Adani Group General Counsel PM Devaiah recently set up a boutique law firm in Bangalore christened Starlaw Partners with a team of 25 people.
Confirming the development, Devaiah said,
“It’s a very small but smart outfit and for the next 1-2 years, we will work with very limited clients. We are in no hurry to make it big and that’s the plan.”
The firm's focus areas will primarily be private equity (PE) and general corporate work, including some work on compliance and real estate strategy and support.
Devaiah has been an in-house counsel for over three decades. Before his stint at Adani, he spent almost 15 years with Everstone Group. Prior to that, he worked at ICICI Venture, Carlyle Group, BPL Group, Hindustan Unilever and TATA Group.
On his decision to set up his own firm, Devaiah said,
“When I quit Everstone during the pandemic, the trigger was a compelling desire for change. Monotony was killing and the desire to break free was intense. In fact, the plan was to turn into an agri-entrepreneur and pursue other interests. Moving to Ahmedabad, to be part of the Adani Group was unplanned. It was an ocean and I just wanted a piece of that experience. I was with the group for a year.
I shared a great equation with my erstwhile founders (Everstone founders) and they wanted me to join them back. But I pleaded my reluctance to do anything that I did during my earlier tenure. But of course, law still continues to be a passion which I call the joy of jurisprudence. Starlaw fitted well into the emerging opportunity to create something new. I want to lay the foundation/create a platform for youngsters and my younger colleagues to carry forward the baton. I wish to set the tone, mentor, and after some time, move on to the realms of quiet and serenity of my plantation in Coorg."
On the recent move to liberalise the Indian legal market, Devaiah said,
“As I always say, liberalisation is the thesis, control the antithesis. Synthesise the balanced liberalisation in a manner conducive to the growth of the legal practice and protection of the interests of the citizens. While the learnings form the advanced learning curve, best practices and efficiency should outweigh concerns such as price wars, ruthless competition and over-commercialisation of legal services. Having said that, the guarded liberalisation should be of no concern to the industry.
The Indian legal market is a very unique one. We have affluent end-users as well as not-so-affluent end-users. Some may be cost-conscious and not trigger-happy. So whether that will impact the not-so-affluent client market, needs to be seen. On a positive note, liberalisation will spark healthy competition followed by a quality revolution benefitting all stakeholders."